| In today’s FOX Sports Insider: NASCAR is officially back, and looks to set an example for what other sports will look like when they return … it seems like the Patriots have their quarterback for the 2020 season … and “The Last Dance” returns, featuring an appearance from Kobe Bryant and the Dream Team. For a brief moment, as NASCAR announced its imminent, flurried and action-laden restart on Thursday, it seemed like it might be overdoing it. Seven races in 11 days, beginning on May 17, four of them in the Cup Series. Too much of a good thing, perhaps? Nope, not even close. |
As sports takes its tentative initial steps back towards active competition, the concept of too much no longer exists. We have been without sports, essentially, for nearly eight weeks, a barren period in athletics of unparalleled precedent. It is time to play catch up, and while NASCAR is leading the opening surge with Cup doubleheaders at Darlington Raceway and Charlotte Motor Speedway, it won’t be alone. When sports gets back into full flow, the appetite will be like nothing we have seen before. We are hungry already, as evidenced by the swell of interest in not just the NFL Draft but every minute part of it, from office décor to family dogs to Roger Goodell’s attire. And by the fact that the few remaining things to watch, like Nicaraguan soccer and Taiwanese baseball and yes, even marble racing, have never had so many viewers.  We like to see competition, and athletes crave to compete, which is why in NASCAR, even the virtual series of races was treated with utmost seriousness, barring a couple of unfortunate interruptions. Truly though, we are ready for the real thing. And we are going to get a lot of it. Forget for a while all of the traditions and customs of the sporting calendar that you have grown up with. It is going to be different. With appropriate deference to the progression of the coronavirus and whatever restrictive measures remain, the strong likelihood is that the back end of this year could become extraordinarily laden with sports activity. NASCAR is going to try to complete all 36 Cup series races, despite having lost two months to the shutdown. The Ultimate Fighting Championship has been battling to put on events throughout, and finally looks set to get one off the ground, with UFC 249 due to be held in Jacksonville next weekend. Not content with that, UFC president Dana White is planning on an opening burst of three events in a week and expects to roll out more shows with increased regularity. In boxing, the barren calendar has left a number of intriguing fights waiting to be made and an appetite to schedule the biggest ones possible. Tyson Fury v. Anthony Joshua, a heavyweight scrap that would be a true blockbuster, is now reportedly in talks. If and when the NBA returns, while concessions will be made for player health, don’t expect to see too many rest days. Major League Baseball remains in flux, but virtually every viable solution that has been mentioned in the media has involved the use of double-headers to make up for lost time. In the closing months of this wild and tumultuous 2020, when the NFL is hopefully back underway, there will also be other events sandwiched in that typically take place at other times. The French Open tennis tournament moved itself to September and October from its usual slot in the spring. Organizers of the Masters are seeking to stage golf’s grandest spectacle in mid-November. There are going to be some packed weekends. Just when we are going to be wanting to get out of the house again, there will be all kinds of reasons to plunk ourselves in front of the television. We are going to be busy. Sports was taken from us for all this time. Now, as administrators try to achieve the combined goals of restoring revenue and providing national entertainment, we are going to be bombarded with it. There will be conflicts of timing, the need to channel surf at great speed and the real possibility that if we’re not careful, the whole day could go by and we’re still there, on the couch. Sports overload on a grand scale. Here’s hoping. Here’s what others have said … Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR Executive Vice-President: “NASCAR and its teams are eager and excited to return to racing, and have great respect for the responsibility that comes with a return to competition. … I think [being a model for other sports to return is] a big factor in terms of getting it right. We realize up front it’s a huge responsibility for us as a sport. But I’m also confident in the group we’ve gathered to put this plan together. Our entire industry has come together to believe in the plan we’ve put together. We’re certainly going to learn as we go. But the process we put in place I think gives the industry the confidence that we can be first, we can do this in Darlington.” Ty Dillon, NASCAR driver: “I think a lot of it was to just wait and see what direction this virus was going to go in, just like everyone else in the country. Our thoughts and prayers have been with everyone that’s been affected and lost friends and loved ones by this virus. I think [NASCAR is] taking really great precautions based on state and local guidelines and advice as well on how to bring our sport back. I think we’re going to do it in a really safe way and hopefully lead by example for other sports on how they can come back as well.” Adrian Wojnarowski, ESPN: “In a scenario where the NBA played eight games per day — using two courts to host concurrent games akin to summer league — the regular season could be completed in 33 days with almost no back-to-backs. A full four-round postseason, with minimal days off, would take a maximum of 55 days to complete. An alternative framework could shorten this timeline and reduce the number of people needed to finish the season by skipping directly to the playoffs using the current standings. Bringing in 16 teams rather than 30 would cut the number of people in the bubble roughly in half and potentially cut time away from home by more than a month.” |
